The [...]]]>

Wondering about the current state of Minnesota’s bridges? Transportation for America has you covered. They’ve been releasing state-by-state reports on the state of bridge infrastructure in each state. Minnesota was one of their early releases, as Minnesota also offers one of the horror stories about the worst-case scenario for a bad bridge with the I35W bridge.

The report is a mix of standardized information included in every report, along with some specific information about bridge conditions in the state. The Minnesota report reveals many facts, including:

• Out of 50 states and the District of Columbia, Minnesota ranks 34th worst nationally for the state of its bridges.

• Of Minnesota’s 13,068 highway bridges, 1,149 of those bridges are structurally deficient (1 in 11)
• The average age of Minnesota bridges is 35.2 years; bridges are typically built with 50-year life expectancies. Almost 2,900 existing Minnesota bridges are already older than 50 years.

Many structurally deficient bridges are in rural areas and carry lower volumes of cars. Seven of the top 10 most trafficked deficient bridges are in Ramsey County, with 2 additional of these high volume bridges in Hennepin County. The last bridge in the top 10 for volume is in St. Louis County (Duluth). Note that three of the Ramsey County bridges are the MN52 River Crossing, which apparently is statistically considered three spans. (I can kind of see why.)

The report provides solid information about the proportion of funding used for maintenance versus expanding the highway system, and features a really nice color-coded map of Minnesota’s counties and their bridge situations. The information is extremely valuable in light of current discussions about the gas tax, the new Transportation Bill, and budget issues. Minnesota continues to deal with bridge issues, ranging from bridges on I-34 and I-94 to city and county bridges like the Plymouth Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis, currently closed to vehicles pending finding the money to repair corroded cables. The Lift Bridge in Stillwater continues to get a lot of press, as Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN6), Senator Amy Klobuchar (DFL), and Governor Mark Dayton (DFL) all work in various ways to get a new St. Croix river crossing approved. This report shows that these bridges in the news are just the ones getting coverage, and are by no means the extent of Minnesota’s infrastructure problem.

If you haven’t registered yet, go and do so. While on-site registration is available, let’s be realistic. It’s a lot easier on everyone involved — you, the Bicycle Alliance, the caterers — to have SOME advance notice of your presence. So go [...]]]>

The Minnesota Bicycle Summit is next Monday, February 28. The legislative priorities have been posted.

If you haven’t registered yet, go and do so. While on-site registration is available, let’s be realistic. It’s a lot easier on everyone involved — you, the Bicycle Alliance, the caterers — to have SOME advance notice of your presence. So go and register now, and be there on Monday to hear from James L. Oberstar, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede and a posse of others, and then go to advocate for bicycling with your legislators.

Wear something nice for the whole “meeting of legislators,” and see you there!

Duluth’s Northland News Center, which is a site for Duluth’s CBS, NBC, CW and ‘MyNetwork’ affiliate television outlets, provokes today’s big headsmack with their article “BICYCLE RIDING DEATHS UP IN MN.”

While the article does include some fatality statistics [...]]]>

There’s nothing quite like headline writing expressly designed to freak people out, while not necessarily matching article content.

Duluth’s Northland News Center, which is a site for Duluth’s CBS, NBC, CW and ‘MyNetwork’ affiliate television outlets, provokes today’s big headsmack with their article “BICYCLE RIDING DEATHS UP IN MN.”

While the article does include some fatality statistics for the state, I’m relatively sure that the safety message being put out by Susan Koschak, the chair of the Statewide Non-Motorized Advisory Committee, didn’t include the OMG YOU WILL ALL DIE tilt. The DPS official quoted also is quoted on safety, although the fatality figure (average of 8 cyclist deaths/year) is a DPS number.

Just as a comparison, DPS reports 72 motorcyclist deaths in 2008, and 416 car accident deaths in 2009. Obviously, working towards 0 in all columns is important, but you rarely see the attachment of OMG DANGER! attached in the same way to these other modes of transport.

Northland News also inserts a “use bike paths!” comment, even though DPS and MNDOT share the 8 principles of the Share the Road Minnesota campaign, all of which focus on appropriate and legal use of roadways by cyclists.

I’m blaming this all on Northland, as the state agencies quoted are typically right on and supportive of the Share the Road principles and Minnesota statutes on bicyclists. Education of all roadway users – and not breathless sharing of noncontextual fatality statistics – is the key to cyclist safety on the roads. All a headline of this nature does is forward a not-especially-subtle bias against cyclists’ road rights.

People occasionally ask me how I make running the event look so easy. This is my 7th year on committee. I have methods. I have techniques. I delegate madly.